Act 4: Chapter 48: The World Recorder VS The Lich
Nilmein bared her killing intent toward Lunaire.
Sophia held Nilmein with her hand and stepped forward in front of the latter.
「Nilmein, step back.」
「B-But, Sophia-sama…! I can at le—」
「I've told you right, you're not my shield. Foolish girl.」
Said Sophia before she heaved a sigh and glared at Lunaire.
「You finally found my place huh, Lunaire? So, for what reason did you storm into this place? If you think I'm an easy prey, I'll let you know that you're mistaken.」
「You're just as knowledgeable as the rumor says, Sophia. I have no choice but to do this since you seem to be quite busy. I mean, there's no way they're going to let me meet you just because I'm asking for it, you might've already been in another place by then. I have no time to choose the method either.」
「What an interesting satire, Lunaire. But… Sure enough, your approach is the most correct way to deal with us.」
Sophia was a member of the 《Invisible Hand of god》.She ruled the world from the shadow by using her organization as its' foundation, and the management's ability to control the information around the world was completely dependent on Sophia.
Sophia believed that as long as she was alive, she could use her influence to tarnish Kanata's reputation without even having to engage in direct confrontation against him, Plus, she had constant access to Kanata's information in real-time while the other party had no such advantage.
The fact Lunaire who was outside of the scope of Sophia's bservation storming directly into Sophia's office to meet the latter could be seen as her way to fight the 《Invisible Hand of God》 for Kanata.
「Only if you can defeat me, that's it!」
The moment Sophia said so, she pressed the skin under her eye with her finger.
At that moment, her eye was glowing in red color.
The mind eye of the devil of truth, the 《Idea Eye》.
She forcefully transplanted the eye of that high-rank devil with white magic to make it compatible with her body.
Her pair of eyes broke all kinds of falsehood and displayed the truth.
They allow her to see her opponent's superficial thoughts, personality, and level.
It could even penetrate the 《Impurity Sealer's Robe》 that covered Lunaire's body.
"POP", a popping sound resounded in the room.
Sophia's eyeballs rolled up, showing the white of her eyes, blood was tricking down from the dilated blood vessels of her eyes.
「Urgh, Burp, "Vomit"!」
Sophia's legs crumbled down on the floor, her attire was stained with her vomit.
The golden crystal in her hand, the 《Eye of Tiamat》 was rolling on the ground.
「S-Sophia-sama!? Hang in there, Sophia-sama! This must be what that woman doing!」
Nilmein hugged the fallen Sophia as she blamed Lunaire.
Lunaire on the other hand did absolutely nothing, other than break the wall of the office.
This happened simply because Lunaire's level far surpassed the limit of Sophia's 《Idea Eye》.
Because of that, Sophia felt as if her eyeballs were on fire, along with dread and fear toward the opponent whose level dwarfed her, and as a bonus, she was also exposed to the maximum level of mental pollution of the hades' impurity due to her eyes.
Since everything happened at once in one moment, it was something akin to a blunt weapon directly hitting Sophia's brain.
「Is something the matter?」
The Lunaire in question asked with a curious look on her face.
「P-Please escape from this place, Sophia-sama! She's going to kill you! I'll do my best to stop Lunaire, please use that chance to escape from this place with a teleportation item!」
Nilmein laid down Sophia on the floor before stepping forward to face Lunaire.
Lunaire became even more confused upon seeing that.
「Uhm… What are you talking about since a while ago? And what do you mean by me coming to kill you?」
「Eh?」
Now it was Nilmein's turn to frown, unable to understand what kind of plan concocted by Lunaire this time.
「Aah… My apologies, my action might lead you to believe that I come here to assassinate you. Rest assured, I'm not coming for that. I've already told you before that I can only rely on you.」
Lunaire then took out a ring and placed it on the desk after she offered her apology.
The ore inserted in the ring let out seven-colored light.
「This is an apology gift. It's not something that I want to let go alas, I have no choice since I'm the one who asking you to spare some of your time. It's the thickest crystalization of magical power I've seen so far.」
「Y-You are… Not coming to kill me?」
Asked Sophia timidly as she stood up while pressing her eyes.
「Yes, not that I have a reason to fight you or grudge toward you.」
「T-Then why are you… Looking for me then?」
「I'm looking for someone. I've been looking for him in every place in this kingdom alas, I still can't find them. I've been wondering if I need to change my tactic or look for them in another kingdom but then, I hear about a high-elf who has been living for a really long time and has a vast amount of knowledge. That's why I come to visit you to borrow your knowledge.」
Sophia looked even more confused upon hearing Lunaire's remark.
By pure chance, Lunaire had been gathering information in the kingdom, and discovered the existence of a knowledgeable high-elf who always hiding behind the scenes of the kingdom, thus decided to visit the said high-elf.
Surely, Sophia didn't stay in one place due to her busy schedule.
Since she had to meet Sophia no matter what, she chose to storm into the office.
Though it sounds like nonsense, she realizes that Lunaire didn't storm into this place because the latter knew that Sophia was the enemy of Kanata Kanbara.
「I-I see… So you're not coming to assassinate Sophia-sama…」
Nilmein heaved a sigh of relief.
Sophia had also heaved a sigh but then, at the same time, she noticed that something was amiss.
Though Lunaire was one of the prime suspects who might've trained Kanata Kanbara, the timing of her appearance to borrow Sophia's knowledge was simply too good to be true.
Sophia's intuition had told her that it wasn't a mere coincidence.
But then, looking at Lunaire's attitude, Sophia didn't think that the latter was lying about not coming to assassinate the former.
For the time being, Sophia heaved a sigh of relief knowing that her life wasn't threatened, she then touched her own vomit that stained her attire.
She endured her splitting headache while looking at Lunaire's face.
「… I'm relieved to hear that you're not the assassin who aimed to destroy my company. By the way… You say that you want to confirm something, what is the thing that you want to confirm?」
「Yeah, it's something that someone like you should've already known. Do you happen to know about the power that controls the world from behind the scenes… An organization called the 《Invisible Hand of God》?」
Once again, the color drained from Sophia's face.
「In fact, I do believe that organization has been meddling with this kingdom, that's why I went around to seek cooperation from the royalty, nobles in various places, and famous merchants… Gently. Alas, it seems that the organization has been hiding their existence so thoroughly that it's almost impossible to find the clue about them… But then, I got the information about you, that's why I came to this pla— What's the matter? You look pale.」
Asked Lunaire who noticed the change in Sophia's complexion.
Sophia's body went limp, she leaned on Nilmein.
「H-Hang in there, Sophia-sama!」
The 《Invisible Hand of God》, or rather, Sophia was the one who managed and controlled of trend in every kingdom in this world, Lochlore.
That's why, it was only natural that her existence was found out first before Lunaire found out about the organization.